Potato Salad posted:Recommendations? Only reason I ask is because I have a vacuum-packed wild trout fillet in the freezer that probably won't come out in DECENT condition. Thaw, pat dry, pan fry and season a bit then crumble it into a curry, etc. I've done that to bulk up some cheap thai veggie curries with protein.
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Dec 6, 2014 00:55
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I've been meaning to make a good wintery asian soup with some Soba or Udon noodles I have in the pantry. I have lemongrass, mushrooms, broth, and those frozen mahi mahi filets. Any good idea how I could combine those? My other option is to make it out of frozen dark meat left over from thanksgiving, which sounds delicious, but I'm craving fish after this discussion.
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Dec 6, 2014 05:30
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KettleWL posted:I've been meaning to make a good wintery asian soup with some Soba or Udon noodles I have in the pantry. I have lemongrass, mushrooms, broth, and those frozen mahi mahi filets. Any good idea how I could combine those? My other option is to make it out of frozen dark meat left over from thanksgiving, which sounds delicious, but I'm craving fish after this discussion. Are they dried mushrooms or fresh? What kind of mushroom? What kind of broth? I make a similar soup with leftover chicken stock and pho noodles (and hot chillies). So, If dried, crumble them up, pop them and the lemongrass and some ginger to the broth, and bring to a quick boil. Remove it from the heat, then add cooked noodles and spoon or chopstick grabbable size pieces of defrosted fillet. Since a boil is 212f, submerging the fillet for a few minutes should bring it to safe edible temperature (USDA recommends 145f) without overcooking it. If the mahi is flash-frozen and has never been previously defrosted, it should be quite safe to eat after a few minutes in the hot broth. This is also the time to add any other delicate veg like spinach, which finds it's way in most of my meals. If the mushrooms are fresh, add them with the noodles and fish, sliced as thin as you can manage. Add fish and soy sauce to taste. Ooh, or if you want to do something fun are way more asian, you might get away with using the mahi fillets in Tsumire-jiru. This is kinda dependant on having some japanese food things, like miso, sake, and kombu, and less common veg like long green onion and daikon. Not exactly the cheapest of eats if you don't already have the stuff lying around. You cold also try to make a clear soup version with sake, salt, and soy sauce, but sake can get expensive. And you'd still want miso for the fish balls. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA3U44Ex0Sk Or do like me and get all your info on cooking by watching Cooking With Dog before bed Suspect Bucket fucked around with this message at 07:14 on Dec 6, 2014 |
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Dec 6, 2014 06:48
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Suspect Bucket posted:Are they dried mushrooms or fresh? What kind of mushroom? What kind of broth? I make a similar soup with leftover chicken stock and pho noodles (and hot chillies). So, If dried, crumble them up, pop them and the lemongrass and some ginger to the broth, and bring to a quick boil. Remove it from the heat, then add cooked noodles and spoon or chopstick grabbable size pieces of defrosted fillet. Thanks, this is pretty close to what I was thinking of doing, but I didn't know if there were some other flavors I'd need to properly compliment the Mahi Mahi. Mushrooms are fresh bellas, and I have both chicken and vegetable broths. Also, definitely adding hot chilles too, I have some diced and frozen to go with it already that I forgot to mention. Think I'll give this a shot for Sunday.
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Dec 6, 2014 13:53
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KettleWL posted:Thanks, this is pretty close to what I was thinking of doing, but I didn't know if there were some other flavors I'd need to properly compliment the Mahi Mahi. Mushrooms are fresh bellas, and I have both chicken and vegetable broths. Also, definitely adding hot chilles too, I have some diced and frozen to go with it already that I forgot to mention. Think I'll give this a shot for Sunday. Please post the recipe and a trip report, because this whole idea sounds loving fantastic to me right now.
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Dec 6, 2014 15:54
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KettleWL posted:Thanks, this is pretty close to what I was thinking of doing, but I didn't know if there were some other flavors I'd need to properly compliment the Mahi Mahi. Mushrooms are fresh bellas, and I have both chicken and vegetable broths. Also, definitely adding hot chilles too, I have some diced and frozen to go with it already that I forgot to mention. Think I'll give this a shot for Sunday. neogeo0823 posted:Please post the recipe and a trip report, because this whole idea sounds loving fantastic to me right now. Seconded, because I was reading through this and starting to wonder how much of this I had on hand, and what all I could scrape together...
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Dec 6, 2014 16:22
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Niemat posted:Seconded, because I was reading through this and starting to wonder how much of this I had on hand, and what all I could scrape together... Lets all celebrate with our suspect soups!
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Dec 6, 2014 19:36
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That Works posted:Thaw, pat dry, pan fry and season a bit then crumble it into a curry, etc. I've done that to bulk up some cheap thai veggie curries with protein. In a moment of insanity, I added capers. I have no clue what on Earth I was thinking.
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Dec 7, 2014 02:45
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Update: Made some soup, turned out pretty well all in all. Here's the basic recipe/guideline: half a pack of soba noodles (about 4 oz), followed directions on packet. 32 oz of no-salt added chicken stock (Thought I had veggie, was wrong) Two tablespoons each of soy sauce, lime juice, fish sauce 2 tablespoons each of finely chopped ginger 2 cloves minced garlic 2 uh stalks? of lemongrass, very bottom removed and cut into thirds Dried red pepper flake I shook angrily until I felt no more rage at the world A handful (~8-12) baby carrots A can of bamboo shoots in water (drained) 6 oz of baby bella (crimini) mushrooms - fresh - sliced as thinly as possible 2 stalks of green onion - sliced 6 hot chille peppers, diced A zucchini, sliced A red bell pepper, coarse chop 2 Mahi Mahi filets, thawed, skin removed (about 1.3 or so lbs total) - sliced into thin, small pieces (I divided each filet into thirds then sliced each piece into about inch sized pieces) Started with the liquid ingredients with garlic and ginger, got them to a boil, added the lemongrass and red pepper flake, let simmer (not boil, took the heat back down) for 10 while I chopped the baby carrots and other stuff. Added the baby carrots and bamboo shoots to the simmering base. Let simmer for 5 more minutes, then removed the lemongrass. Cranked the heat, added the vegetables and let it return to a boil. Once it was back to boiling, added the Mahi Mahi and let it cook for 4 minutes. Then added some handfuls of spinach, stirred it around, ended up with this:  Which when served over the soba noodles (and photographed in my hallway because I forgot to grab a picture):  Overall thoughts: pretty tasty soup, but if I did it over I'd change a few things: More garlic, ginger, and fish sauce to begin with More chilles, or add them earlier. As it stands it's a little weak on the heat Use a larger amount of stock/larger pot, or less vegetables. It got a little crowded and I don't know if the flavors got to fully develop because of that. Add the zucchini at the same time as the fish or just not add it at all (I love veggies and thought the more hte merrier, but it's an odd addition to the soup). Adding it with everything else made it break down a little too much, still tasty, just a bit too soft. Fish held up well, and it was a nice warm, comforting, flavor. Unfortunately after being cold, rainy, and miserable, all week, the sun came out today and it was low 40s, so the warmth wasn't quite necessary. Anyways, thanks for the guidance and tips yo, sorry about the jags.
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Dec 8, 2014 00:12
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Apologies ahead of time- stress and lack of sleep will make this scattershot. I have tried my best. I'm hungry so let's get to it! I live in the middle of Acadiana, on the Gulf Coast of Louisiana. I can get some good meats, some seafood, I recently saw half an aisle filled with various TINY tiny tiny packets of mexican seasonings to balance out our huge francophone culture but not much variety in fruits and veggies. Something I think was bok choy just popped up? Also a Super 1 near here just got ginger. OH WOW HOLY gently caress GINGER IS THIS poo poo FROM SPACE OR WHAT (Can I really break one in half and start growing ginger in the spring? In addition to that I want to do the grow-potatoes-in-layers-of-soil trick and if anyone has experience with those or either of those experiments please PM me.) So how can I feed two people, or try to, on 65 dollars for a month? From government commodities that give me one box per month, those boxes contain a milk, a couple bags of beans dry, a bag of a random pasta dry, cans of spinach or a can of mixed fruit and a can of mixed vegetables (ugh disgusting) and maybe a bottle of juice. From that over time I have managed to save up a huge bag of oatmeal, some cream of wheat, some kanza corn, some pinto, some white, navy, assorted beans- and the same with the noodles, a couple bags of those. That's all I've got. Planning to get more rice and butter at the very least on my shopping trip. Butter is a loving luxury to me and I haven't gotten any in a month or two. So can I beg people here to point me in the direction of recipes and what meats/veggies I should buy to make some dishes I can stretch and make last, besides the almighty chicken stock? Is stroganoff out the question? I can get a few chickens, and I really want to do that end-of-the-year dish green bean casserole covered with carmelized onions and with the unholy can of cream of mushroom because I can't loving afford mushrooms. Anyone help me, please? I don't think I can make 65 last for a whole month so I will have to beg money from a friend (he's a goon here, I love you Nucky!) Just something besides rice and parsley with that fake oil butter one day and cream of wheat with a bit of salt the next. Anything but that, I can't eat that anymore. edit; Oh I have a slow cooker! I'm sure that will make things easier. Paradox Personified fucked around with this message at 14:27 on Dec 8, 2014 |
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Dec 8, 2014 14:24
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SoroScrew
Paradox Personified posted:Apologies ahead of time- stress and lack of sleep will make this scattershot. I have tried my best. I'm hungry so let's get to it! Sup. Grew up over in lower Plaquemines parish myself. I think the 1st thing I can think of from that is making some redbeans or whitebeans and rice. You don't need any meat for it but if you have any you want to throw in, that will make it tasty. That stuff is very filling, cheap and you can use your slow cooker for it if you want. Only veggies you would need is your trinity and you can even skimp some there if you need to.
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Dec 8, 2014 15:22
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What other cookware do you have? Do you have an oven?
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Dec 8, 2014 15:26
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KettleWL posted:More garlic, ginger, and fish sauce to begin with Did you bloom the spices? Before you start cooking, plop a bit of oil in the bottom of the pot, pop the heat on, mince and crush your spices and garlic (and maybe some thin sliced onion), and put them in to kinda but not really technically fry. The fat and heat releases a bunch of the aromatics and gets the malliard reaction going. Then I throw in any hard root veg or cruciforms or celery. Once that all smells amazing, then I add the liquid. It boosts the flavor quite a bit. WARNING. If you are frying up anything with capsaicin, make sure the area is very well ventilated! The fumes hurt like hell! Zuchinni can be tricky, thats for sure! But it also means you can disolve it in soup and feed the picky. quote:Anyways, thanks for the guidance and tips yo, sorry about the jags. STOP BREAKIN MY HEART BORT.
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Dec 8, 2014 20:50
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That Works posted:Sup. Grew up over in lower Plaquemines parish myself.  St Landry here bwah  Howz ya momma an' dem? pecans and crawfish runnin good dis year mais oua.Ah yeah time to go back to red beans and rice. Sometimes my neighbour will toss me some oxtail to throw in there. Heavenly. Smoke that tail a bit before you throw it in and it's a whole new dimension of flavor. I'm eerily proud about how well I've gotten at microwave rice. Eerily. Proud. Butch Cassidy posted:What other cookware do you have? Do you have an oven? I have a BBQ, oven, and a tiny electric range-thing. Those called ranges, yes? The dollar stores have cans of food beans/fruit/etc, does that ever work out cheaper as opposed to the cans or more specifically fresh fruit sold at a Super 1 or a Super Walmart? I never thought of it till now.. Large bags of the frozen fruit in the frozens aisle, but I never checked those prices out.. I have a lot of math to do... I miss fruit terribly badly  also if I ever get a heating blanket and a temperature monitor I believe I will also rekindle my yogurt addiction Paradox Personified fucked around with this message at 21:08 on Dec 8, 2014 |
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Dec 8, 2014 20:54
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FYI, for anyone in the citrus growing south, many farmers markets have cheap citrus. So will food banks with any relationship with a farm or grower. If you see an ornamental citrus that has not been picked a month or two beyond the first soft freeze in your area, go find the owners and politely ask if they have any plans for the fruit. Also check Craigslist to see if anyone is allowing fruit picking. Bring a ladder and lots of sacks and buckets. Always be polite and respectful, pick up your picking trash, and donate what you cant feasably eat on the next two or three months to a food bank. They love citrus.
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Dec 8, 2014 21:27
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Paradox Personified posted:
Momma's doin good yeah! When we grew up we got the government milk powder and made yogurt with it also. Ended up taking a desk lamp, wrapping it in foil and putting it inside a big coleman beer cooler. Then, took a couple of glass containers and washed them real well, brought up powdered milk to just below a boil and dumped that into each container, let it cool to the temp in the beer cooler (around 30C if I recall) and then added a tablespoon of store bought yogurt to each container. I think that had to sit up overnight at least, maybe a little longer. Anyway, was cheap as hell and if you have that cheap canned fruit you can toss that into your yogurt for breakfast and it's not bad. Suspect Bucket brings up a good point, you should be about to hit orange season around there at least. Got any access to duck at all or is the season already over? Those might be some cheap food sources at the moment too but I haven't lived in LA for almost 4 years now.
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Dec 8, 2014 22:46
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EAT THE EGGS RICOLA posted:Basically any fish you buy that isn't from a local fisherman has been frozen out on the boat.
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Dec 9, 2014 00:44
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I see beans/rice mentioned a lot for good reason, but is there any accepted cheap staple vegetables that aren't just carbohydrates that people generally can opt to supplement with?
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Dec 9, 2014 00:55
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nuru posted:I see beans/rice mentioned a lot for good reason, but is there any accepted cheap staple vegetables that aren't just carbohydrates that people generally can opt to supplement with? I eat a lot of leafy greens, both fresh and frozen. Broccoli, cauliflower, peas, haricots vert, and capsicum are my staple veg. Oh, and sweet potato. Lots of those.
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Dec 9, 2014 01:03
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I eat a shitload of broccoli. It just never gets old for me, for some reason.
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Dec 9, 2014 01:19
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I had assumed those were expensive for the "I have $100 for a month" folks.
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Dec 9, 2014 01:21
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Onions, winter squash, kale, carrots, rutebega, and turnips are all versatile and inexpensive this time of year.
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Dec 9, 2014 01:23
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Cabbage is my favorite staple vegetable. I like to saute shredded cabbage with salt and pepper, then top with one or two fried eggs.
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Dec 9, 2014 01:24
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nuru posted:I see beans/rice mentioned a lot for good reason, but is there any accepted cheap staple vegetables that aren't just carbohydrates that people generally can opt to supplement with? But cabbage is the best.
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Dec 9, 2014 01:42
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Definitely cabbage, squash (like zucchinis in summer, butternuts and stuff in winter), kale is like $1 a bunch where I am so I end up eating a lot of kale, swiss chard, stuff like that. Also the format of vegetable matters--frozen corn is great, frozen spinach is great when you're making a cooked application like lasagna or something. Frozen edamame is great if you can pick it up on sale. I generally steer clear of canned vegetables with the exception of tomatoes and artichoke hearts. Fresh ginger is not quite a vegetable, but it's essential and amazing and cheap--just freeze it & grate what you need off the root frozen. Jalapenos and other not-bell pepeprs pack a huge amount of flavor while being relatively cheap compared to a bell pepper--and you pay less for them because they are generally smaller. Apples are also quite cheap and have tons of savory applications. (Cabbage + onion + apple + garlic sauteed up can feel fancy as all get-out.) Also, a word on onions--don't just think about them as a thing you saute up for whatever. You can slowly caramelize a ton of onions and keep them fridged or frozen for sandwiches, soups, and as a kickstart to sauces or other dishes. You can pickle onions and peppers, and they can add awesome flavor at the end of cooking.
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Dec 9, 2014 03:02
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nuru posted:I see beans/rice mentioned a lot for good reason, but is there any accepted cheap staple vegetables that aren't just carbohydrates that people generally can opt to supplement with? Collard greens and chard are always cheap for me along with cabbage, green beans, broccoli and yams. In the summer I'll buy lots of eggplant and summer squashes when they are cheap.
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Dec 9, 2014 03:16
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Edamame is great because it's incredibly filling as well as green. You can pick it up super cheap if you have an Asian market near you. This goes for any vegetable, really. Figure out what's in season. If you're in the US you should probably be going through squash, sweet potatoes, kale/collards and Brussels sprouts right now. If you buy Brussels sprouts on the stalk they become more affordable. Also no one mentioned carrots or beets, those are both amazing, just roast them with some salt and pepper. Beets come with the added bonus of free greens, too. Edit: I like about carrots, go Butch Cassidy!
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Dec 9, 2014 04:40
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http://www.sustainabletable.org/seasonalguide/seasonalfoodguide.php You can use a site like that to see what's in season in your area, though if you just google your state (assuming you live in the US) and 'seasonal produce' you can usually find even better guides. Like for maryland I use http://www.pickyourown.org/MDharvestcalendar.htm which isn't the prettiest but I can tell from a glance or two what I should be looking for. Also, April and May I pretty much live off of asparagus. Drizzle with olive oil, heavy with the salt and pepper, shove in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. Ungh. My pee also stinks to high heaven those entire months as well. edit: I do the same thing with radishes too and those are cheap all year round. Leper Residue fucked around with this message at 10:03 on Dec 9, 2014 |
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Dec 9, 2014 10:00
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detectivemonkey posted:Edamame is great because it's incredibly filling as well as green. You can pick it up super cheap if you have an Asian market near you. This goes for any vegetable, really. Beet greens are awesome, and so are beets. I like to add the greens (minus ribs, torn) to borscht. They end up red like everything else borscht touches, but they add some nice taste and texture. If you buy in Asian markets or from farmers, vegetables can be way cheaper than the grocery store - and usually higher quality. Your location will determine your vegetable buying to a large degree, though.
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Dec 9, 2014 11:43
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I made an assload of kimchi for maybe $4, do it the whiteboy way and you won't have to shell out for fish sauce if you're a monster and don't already have any. Salt cabbage, rinse cabbage, throw in carrot, green onion, garlic, sugar, pepper flakes (easy to find in the Hispanic aisle, a dollar for a huge amount)
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Dec 9, 2014 20:04
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Daikon-carrot relish is great for salads and sandwiches. I've not mastered making French baguettes, but it's still great, especially if you can somehow make duck confit and put it on literally anything. Put it on a cellphone and eat it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu4aUn7ye80
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Dec 10, 2014 00:41
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a bag of ramen and a glass of water
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Dec 10, 2014 01:34
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If you can find a supermarket with a fishmonger / butcher you can usually get pretty cheap stuff at the end of the day. Final reductions are usually at least 50% of the original price. If they are particularly desperate to sell the items they wind up being pretty cheap. I managed to bag some monkfish tail for about $3 today.
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Dec 10, 2014 02:19
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Anunnaki posted:a bag of ramen and a glass of water A) Smash fist into bag of Ramen to reduce to nickel-sized chunks B) Pour bag into cold glass of water C) Soak for five minutes D) Cry The number of times I did this as an underclassman in college...
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Dec 10, 2014 22:57
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Don't know if this has been posted, but I found this cookbook on living off of $4 a day. http://www.leannebrown.com/
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Dec 16, 2014 22:51
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BRITGOONS - Best place to buy cheap meat?
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Dec 23, 2014 17:15
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Faithless posted:BRITGOONS - Best place to buy cheap meat? Don't know about England for sure, but in Denmark independent halal butcher shops tend to have quite low prices. They don't carry pork though, for obvious reasons.
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Dec 23, 2014 17:22
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Unfortunately cheapest i have found is still the big supermarkets. Tesco do 3 chickens for a tenner at the moment which isnt bad. Though Id be really interested in any other suggestions too. Especially in the manchester area.
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Dec 23, 2014 17:51
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Dravinski posted:If you can find a supermarket with a fishmonger / butcher you can usually get pretty cheap stuff at the end of the day. Final reductions are usually at least 50% of the original price. If they are particularly desperate to sell the items they wind up being pretty cheap. I managed to bag some monkfish tail for about $3 today. Now fish from the service counter is a different beast. Strange fish that scares people like monkfish or skate can be sold for a song because nobody knows what it is, while tilapia and catfish fly out the door. Well, tilapia and catfish fillets fly out the door, whole fish and head-on shrimp just never sold. 50 cents a pound and nobody bought it. Honestly, just talk with all of the people running the fresh food side of the supermarket, the produce and deli and meat/seafood and find out when they do the final markdowns. You can get a half priced rotisserie chicken with whatever veg the produce people just have way too much of this week for cheap, you just have to get there at the right time and be ready to throw elbows with the other bargain hunters.
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Dec 23, 2014 18:27
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Faithless posted:BRITGOONS - Best place to buy cheap meat? We have a Trade Butcher's that also has a retail kiosk, it's a tiny bit more expensive than supermarket's but the quality is better and sometime's they have crazy deals. I'm not sure if it's a common thing though.
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Dec 23, 2014 18:38
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